Cutter stopped working. Menu cutter setting is "on"

[RCinSTP]

On my 5500 after printing something the machine always cut the paper.  The printer is no longer automatically cutting the paper when finished printing.  I checked the printer menu and the cutter is set to "on".  It doesn't make any noise related to cutting, I don't think the printer is attempting to cut.

Are there other settings I can check?  I'm not getting any error message.

[davidzuts]

What happens if you print a test page from the utilites menu on the printer.  When it finishes, does the carriage move to the left sort of stop then proceed to the right like it is cutting the paper and then go back to the left, hit that side and then move back over to the right.  If that happens a couple of things could be an issue.  There is a piece on the end of the bracket on the left side that is used to engage the cutter when the carriage moves to the left.  The carriage will stop in the exact position so that piece grabs the lever of the cutter and pulls it out which drops the cutter blade for cutting.  If that piece or the lever is broken then the blade never drops and so cutting does not take place.  Also if the encoder which is the clear plastic strip that runs thru the carriage and has fine lines is missing lines on the left side or is very dirty, then the carriage may not stop in the correct postion to engage the cutter.  If you decide to clean the encoder, use plain water and gently move it over the strip.  If you press to hard to rub to hard you can rub off the lines and the strip will need to be replaced.  Hope some of this helps.

[RCinSTP]

The printer is trying to cut the paper.  The cutter is hitting the bracket on the left side but not engaging the cutter and pulling it out.

I manually pushed the printhead assembly to the end of the left side and tried to engage the cutter, the printhead assembly hits the bracket but doesn't engage, I repeated and it engages about every fourth attempt.   I took the left side off and examined how the cutter engages and when the printhead stops at exactly the correct spot, the cutter wheel pulls out and drops down perfectly so I think it's not stopping at the correct location as you mentioned.  I tried cleaning the encoder strip but it already seemed clean.  I'll test again and see if it cuts now.

[davidzuts]

First thing you want to do is gently clean the encoder that runs thru the carriage assembly.  Just dampen a cloth in plain water and again gently run over the encoder, playing close attention to the left side of the plotter when the carriage goes to engage the cutter.  If you get the cutter to engage by hand then the mechanics are fine and it is the position of the carriage when the plotter tries to activate the cutter is off.  Do not rub the encoder to hard as it is possible to remove the lines on the plastic strip and then the encoder will need to be replace.  Suggest you do a google search for the service manual and download.  You then want to remove the left side cover and with the cover off put the tube assembly back in place with the ink cartridges and then put a small strip of paper in the top cover open switch on the right side so you can keep the cover open and now you will able to observe what is happening and what is off.  When the carriage moves to the left to activate the cutter it has to stop in the exact position where the lever on the left frame and the lever on the cutter engage.  If to far to the left or to far to the right the cutter lever will not engage.

[RCinSTP]

I cleaned the encoder strip. There was a fair amount of dirt on it.  I took the left side off and watched while I ran another test and when the printhead unit moves to the left when it is preparing to cut, it doesn't go far enough, it stops about 3 inches from the cutter release bracket.

[davidzuts]

In the same menu where you tell the printer to turn the cutter on or off, I think there is a choice to do a form feed and cut or just plain cut the paper.  Do that and tell us what happens.  Also I am attaching a page from the 5000 service manual which shows the backside of the cutter engagement arm.  It is attached to the tensioner assembly.  If you look at item 7 on the page and look just below the yellow circle and to the right there are 2 holes and on the other side of those holes is the spring loaded arm that engages the cutter to pull the arm on the cutter out as the carriage moves to the right making the cutter drop down to cut.  With the power off if you manually move the carriage to the position you will see how it engages and then let us know if it is not moving far enough or is moving far enough but not engaging.

[RCinSTP]

I apologize for the delay in responding. I can't test the cutter right now because now I am getting an error that the Black 83/UV printhead needs to be replaced.  I have tried various things to get the printer to accept the printhead but, so far, no luck.  I checked to see if I could buy a new printhead locally, and there are none available, so I need to order a new printhead online.  When I get the new printhead next week, I will test the cutter and report back.

[RCinSTP]

I finally got the new printhead so now I can run some tests. I took the left side cover off and printed some test pages. The printhead assembly stops just short of the cutter release bracket.

The printer was cutting just fine and suddenly stopped working.  If the encoder strip gets messed up is this the only symptom and is it gradual or sudden?  I don't see any fine lines on the encoder strip.  I cleaned the encoder strip gently with a lint free cloth slightly damp with water.

I checked the printer menu and could not find any setting for form feed, just cutter on/off.

I upgraded the printer firmware.

If I manually move the printhead assembly to the bracket, the cutter will release, so the cutter is not stuck.

Is there anything else besides the encoder strip that could cause the printhead assembly to stop short of the cutter release bracket?  Any tests I can run?

[RCinSTP · Accepted solution]

I found the Form Feed and Cut feature, it's under the Media settings.

I changed the type of media and the cutter started working just fine.  I didn't change the paper, only the type listed in the media settings on the printer menu.